Kitty and John moved to BC just three years ago, from Calgary.
They took on a bit of a larger mortgage than they wanted to, when purchasing a townhouse in Langley for their growing family of four.
At just 37 years old, John developed a tremor in his hand, causing him to take leave from his contract job as a dental hygienist. At first, savings covered the mortgage payments, physiotherapy, and expensive prescription drugs. But after a few months, the family found that not only were medical costs adding up—Kitty was under incredible pressure to meet the demands of their household bills, and their ability to save for their daughters’ education.
Like many, Kitty and John were covered by Life Insurance, but hadn’t considered the likelihood of a disability affecting their lifestyle. As young, healthy adults they were focused on their retirement plan and having a basic policy in place should they face the worst.
Life insurance
Protection for the unexpected.
Take care of yourself and your loved ones with a customized life insurance solution. Whether protecting your family or small business, we offer products to meet your needs now, and well into the future.
In a time of loss, life insurance is a safety net that provides a tax-free benefit to your beneficiaries. It provides income to maintain your family’s lifestyle, pays off debts like loans or mortgages and can finance your children’s post-secondary education.
A personal plan can also help you protect the wealth that you have, through tax efficient estate planning.
Term life
Peace of mind. For this generation and next.
Get flexible coverage, for a set period of time—typically 10 or 20 years, or up to a set age of 65 or 100.
This insurance provides a lump-sum, tax free payout upon death to your beneficiaries, if death occurs during the term of the policy. Flexible benefits of this insurance include:
- covering multiple people under the same policy
- converting to permanent life in the future
- canceling anytime, without penalties
Term life premiums are generally lower than permanent life. The policy does not build up cash value.
Permanent Life
Building value. For life.
Get set coverage, for your entire life. Choose from Term to 100, Whole Life and Universal Life. This insurance provides a lump-sum, tax free payout upon death to your beneficiaries. Benefits include:
- covering multiple people under the same policy
- being ‘fully paid up’ with no more premiums due, while retaining coverage for your entire life (typically in 20 years)
Permanent life insurance can build worth through a combination of guaranteed cash values, dividends and investments, depending on the type of policy you have chosen. These types of policies can provide you with:
- access to cash values
- tax sheltered accumulation and growth of excess funds
- multiple, sheltered investment options available, depending on the plan
How much life insurance coverage do I need?
It’s important to consider individual factors such as income potential, ordinary expenses, extraordinary expenses, probate fees and income taxes. A Wealth Protection Specialist will work with you to complete an insurance needs assessment. This simple but in-depth approach helps to establish the appropriate amount of Life Insurance best suited to you.
Health
Your health can change in an instant. Developing a disability or suffering from critical illness can provide strain—emotionally and financially. Insurance can protect you and your family from loss of income should adverse health conditions impact your career.
Extended health and dental
Preventative and therapeutic health costs can add up, and many treatments are not covered by MSP. Self-employed or not covered by group health benefits? A health insurance plan reduces expenses for common medical costs. Get coverage for common expenses, including:
- dental work and checkups
- prescription drugs
- glasses and contact lenses
- physiotherapy, massage therapy, and chiropractic care
- naturopathic medicine
- private and semi-private hospital room accommodation
Disability
A disability may mean scaling back or taking absence from work, affecting your ability to earn an income, pay bills, and save for your future. Disability insurance plans help you meet your needs and reduce your stress, allowing you to focus on your recovery.
To ensure you protect your credit and keep up with bills, we offer Creditor coverage. It provides you the peace of mind that minimum payments on your mortgage, line of credit, and credit cards are paid. For additional protection, Income Replacement can provide you with part of your salary, to complement any disability benefits you may receive.
It can provide you with peace of mind, knowing that creditor payments such as rent (in some cases), mortgage, lines of credit and credit card payments are made.
Income replacement protection will replace a portion of your income for a period of time. This protection can be integrated with the plan that you have at work or as a stand-alone policy and is independent of creditor coverage through your financial institution.
Critical illness
Being diagnosed with an illness is stressful and emotionally draining, and can greatly impact your finances. Insurance provides you with a tax free lump sum payment to spend the way you need: to cover lost income, pay for private nursing, out-of-country treatment, medical equipment, or pay off your mortgage. Funds can help you however—and whenever—you need them most.
Long-term care
Specialized medical care can be costly, whether you choose to stay in your home or move into a care facility. Many of these costs aren’t covered by MSP. With Long-term care insurance, you can protect your savings, while be financially prepared for all of the different stages of life.
If I don’t have any dependents, do I still need insurance?
Even if you have no dependents now, you can lock in lower premium rates for permanent life insurance by buying a policy while you’re young—this can be changed at any time if your life circumstances change. The younger you are when you buy your policy, the lower your rates will be. In addition to life insurance, you could also benefit from critical illness, disability, and long term care insurance.
Investments
Segregated Funds
Segregated Funds allow you to grow the money you invest, with access to professional fund management. Funds can be registered (RRSP or Tax-Free Savings Account) or non-registered. Your Segregated Fund can be paid directly to your beneficiary without going through probate and is protected by guarantees.
Annuities
Annuities help you turn savings into a guaranteed income stream. Similar to a salary, they provide a set income amount, typically on a monthly payment schedule. Payments are determined by a number of factors, such as the size of the original investment, payment frequency, annuity type, your age and gender.
